ABSTRACT

This study was carried out to examine whether tourism development enhances internally generated revenue in Akwa Ibom State with a particular reference to Ibeno Beach in Ibeno Local Government Area. To achieve this objective, three research questions and two research hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The data were collected from primary sources. The primary data were collected with the help of a well-structured questionnaire of two sections administered to the respondents in Ibeno local government area. The collected data were analyzed with tables and simple percentages to analyze the research questions while Chi-square statistical tool was used to test research hypotheses using SPSS statistical software. The study reveals that there is a significant relationship between tourism and economic development in Akwa Ibom State and there is a significant relationship between the level of revenue derived from tourism and socio-economic development. The study concluded with some recommendations that government should embrace public-private partnership in order to develop tourism sector in Nigeria.